Cult Nails Fairy Tale Collection Pre-Sale Event

Cult Nails pre-sale event starts today, Saturday May 26th, 2012!

The event goes through Saturday June 2nd, 2012. The pre-sale event will be for the collection only (they will be available for individual sale starting June 15th) and it will be at the reduced price of $40 for all 5 colors. It's like getting one color free!


You can check out my swatches and review of the collection here:  Cult Nails Fairytale Collection

For more swatches and information on Cult Nails and this Fairytale collection, head on over to the Cult Nails Blog.  Join the Cult!

Nude-y Ruby Shoes

I don't have much occasion to need conservative nail polish, but I still love to rock a nude polish now and again.  There's something classy about a nude polish with a touch of shine.  So I decided to mix classy and snazzy in one mani.

This is two coats of Milani Natural Touch.  It's a nude that leans towards pink, which works well with my skin tone.  Even my hubby, who doesn't like nudes on me, liked this one.  The formula was good, if a little thick.  It will likely need thinner next time I wear it.  This is two coats, no topcoat.

Then I applied tape to all my nails, and painted them, one or two at a time, with Miss Professional Nail Sation in Gumdrop Glitter Red.  It is a gorgeous red glitter in a red base that was opaque in one thick coat. 

One thing I found really interesting about this polish was how easy it went on.  I couldn't even feel the polish brush - it just glided on.  And, even with glitter, it made a nice, neat line with the tape.  Sation has recently undergone a rebranding - new bottles, new brush, new everything.  Even if you've tried Sation in the past, it's worth a gander at the new Sation.

Even though the line was straight, I decided to add more contrast by painting on a black line with a Nail Art striper.  Look at that sparkle.  All done, with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Right hand:

Not quite as conservative now... but still really pretty, and I think it's still classy.

The Milani and Sation polishes were provided to me for review.  Nonetheless, the opinions presented are my own, and as unbiased as possible.

http://www.milanicosmetics.com/ 
http://www.misspn.com/index.php/site/collections#/main

Glittery, silly dragonflies

This is another design inspired by Robin Moses.  I find a lot of inspiration in her tutorials - they're definitely art to aspire to for me.

I started with a coat of Nubar Elegant Indigo.  It looks black, but it's really a midnight blue with a slight holo glitter effect.  Quite beautiful - my fave color is midnight blue, so this is right up my alley.

An extra shot so you can maybe see some of the glittery shimmer and colors in the blue.  I think it's gorgeous..

I kinda frankened a gold polish for the wings.  I just mixed small amounts of 3 or 4 different ones to get the right amount of light, and make it thick enough to paint with.  

Then I mixed purple and green glitter from Color Club together to make the wings really iridescent.  Robin used straight glitter, not a polish, and I would have, too, if I had any.

 It definitely adds a lot of texture to the wings to put glitter polish on them. But it was worth it. :)

I tried making the dragonfly body out of a black/silver mix, but I thought it would get 'erased' by the top coat, so...

 ...I added Sally Hansen Punk Rock to the body to make it pop.

I still have a lot to learn about proportions! lol, some of these look like they were done by a 3rd grader.  At least they're *supposed* to be a bit cartoony.  I'm not much interested in having realistic bugs on my hands.

And, finally finished off with Seche Vite topcoat:

Tonal Stripes

I am totally digging on these new mushroom-y type colors, the greige, the taupes, etc.  I liked the idea of pairing them with colors in the same family that would enhance the muted color.

I started with Wet n Wild Wet Concrete, a taupe tinged with purple.  I love the new Manicurve brush.  It really does get most of my nail with one swipe,.  My pinky is pretty small, so I just turn the brush sideways and it gets the job done with minimal to no cleanup. This is 2 coats, no topcoat:

Next, I tried a variation on 1-step painting.  I put some Wet n Wild Through the Grapevine and Milani Hipster Plum on my palette, and dipped each side of a wide brush in one color.  You can see here that the Grapevine polish is on the left, and the Plum is on the right side of the brush.

Then, with as few strokes as possible, I started at the cuticle, and painted down the nail.  This gave me two distinct colors with a little bit of blending in the middle.

I love this look - it reads a little 70s to me.  I originally thought I'd do multiple stripes, but I loved the off-set look so much, I stopped. (what, me edit?  really?)

Right hand:

The Wet n Wild and Milani polishes were provided to me for review.  Nonetheless, the opinions presented are my own, and as unbiased as possible.

http://www.milanicosmetics.com/
http://wnwbeauty.com/

Peek-a-glitter

Sometimes, I just want to have a hint of glitter.  I wanted to try stamping over glitter - I'd seen it done a few times, and it seemed like a pretty way to wear glitter without it being overwhelming. 

This is 2 coats of Wet & Wild Blue Wants to be a Millionaire.  Pretty, but in reality it wasn't dark enough/different enough from my skin to really impact under the stamp.

First, I stamped this no-name blue from Body Raves over the glitter, but it was kinda.. flat.

So I tried painting in some Sinful Colors Love Nails - a pretty blue with an iridescent shimmer too sheer to stamp.  I liked this better.

 Right hand:

Trying to catch some of the glitter.  

In the end... meh.  Hubby said it looked like my manicure wasn't finished, just patches of color on a nudish nail.  From regular viewing distance, you couldn't even really see the glitter.  I'd like to try it again with a stronger color glitter.  Can I help it if I love blue?

Bright Pinky dotticure

I am a shameless nail copycat.  I look at other designs and colors for inspiration all the time.  This time, I got my inspiration from the bag of goodies from our May meetup of the Central Florida Beauty Bloggers.

The base polish is from Milani, a bright Barbie pink called U Pinky Swear.  I did have a little trouble with the application on my left hand, but none on my right.  So what you're seeing here may be the result of not waiting until my base coat was completely dry.  Everything smoothed out later, with topcoat.  This is two coats, no topcoat, yet.

For the dots, I wanted something equally bright that could compete with the Milani.  Barielle End of the Rainbow is an iridescent peacock blue/green, and Chick All A Twitter is a baby blue.  These worked really well for dotting.  The Barielle was opaque enough to work as both an outline and the interior, as was the Chick polish.  As you can see, I alternated the colors.

I think the Chick polish may be the best polish I've ever used for dotting.  It had the BEST texture.  It spread perfectly and effortlessly, didn't dry out on my palette until I was done, and was perfectly opaque, even though it is a light, pastel color.  I can't wait to use it again.

 Right hand, sealed with Seche Vite topcoat:

Barielle is hosting a BFF Sweepstakes on their  Facebook page. The contest starts May 21,2012 and ends June 30,2012.  The prize includes Barielle’s Nail Strengthener Cream, Barielle Base Coat, Top Coat and 3 colors of your choice-a retail value of up to $74.50.

The Milani, Chick and Barielle polishes were provided to me for review (though I had already purchased my own bottle of Barielle End of the Rainbow.)  Nonetheless, the opinions presented are my own, and as unbiased as possible.

http://www.barielle.com/
http://www.chicknailpolish.com/ (coupon code: CHICK20 for 20% off)
http://www.milanicosmetics.com/

Guide to Finishes

This is a great guide on the different types of nail lacquer finishes and some color terms.

The Edge of Sanity Finish Guide

Enjoy!